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How to optimize your lead generation forms: three case studies

Lead generation marketers are remarkably lucky. If your peers in ecommerce run a series of utterly brilliant A/B or multivariate tests for conversion optimization (CRO), the most they can expect is a 20-something sales lift. (Heavy testers like Dell are thrilled when a test wins single-digit additional sales.) But, lead generation marketers can expect a much higher impact.

In fact, the average lead generation CRO campaign results in a 40-something conversion lift. As in 40% or more leads generated from the exact same traffic.

You can optimize every aspect of your lead generation pages – however, we’ve noticed the highest response lift often comes when you tweak your form.

Forms aren’t sexy.Most marketers would prefer to focus on creative things like images or copy. Testing creative does help of course; but your form is where the real action is.

Don’t let your IT team slap up a routine form on your lead generation landing pages, optimize it.

Here are three Case Studies to give you ideas to get started:

Case study #1. How many form fields can you have?

Best practices, and common sense, state that fewer form fields equal more conversions.After all, the less work your prospects have to do, the higher the response rate.

But, if you care about lead quality, or your sales team is screaming for tons of data on leads, you need as many form fields as possible to help weed prospects out.

Juggling higher conversions versus higher quality can be nightmarish.That’s why we love this A/B test from Kindercare, a national chain of 1,700 child care centers in the US.

They (rather daringly) tested adding a field to their lead generation form:

You probably guessed the winner from our introduction. Yes, the non-required form not only converted 31% more visitors into submitted leads, but the leads themselves were more qualified buyers.

Perhaps your prospects respect you more when you trust them?

Case study #3. Which is best, one-page vs multi-step forms?

It’s a toughie. If you have a form immediately on your landing page, it might scare some prospects away.On the other hand, if you break your lead generation process into multiple pages, you’ll inevitably lose some prospects at each step.

There is no best practice you can count on.However, A/B testing can reveal which option is right for your company. Here’s an example:

Version A: Landing page click button leading to a form Version B: Form on landing page

In this case, the two-step process lead to a 59% increase in form fills. Both forms were identical, but the winning version had a page of sales copy prior to the form.

Worth noting: we’ve also seen many tests where marketers broke the forms themselves into two pages, with several form fields on the first page and the remainder on the second. Again, there’s no clear best practice that all lead generation marketers should follow – except to try both and see which converts better for you.

Justin Rondeau is the producer of WhichTestWon’s The Live Event, an intensive two-day conference held each May featuring Case Studies and Workshops on how to optimize for better conversions. Econsultancy readers can get $50.00 off their tickets by using the coupon code Econsultancy at http://whichtestwon.com/TLE

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